PfP – NCD Pacing Event: Workplace Violence

Summary from 4/26 Pacing Event: “Addressing Hospital Workplace Violence in Support of Improving the Quality of Care”

This Pacing Event revisited the topic of worker safety by focusing specifically on discussions around hospital workplace violence prevention. A key component of staff engagement and patient safety is providing a safe environment in the workplace for care providers. As more hospitals look to develop and implement workplace violence prevention policies, this session reviewed high-level information about the state of workplace violence in the US and laws to implement workplace violence prevention policies. The presenters discussed work to identify gaps and best practices around these organization-based policies, as well as some of the specific interventions and tools that their hospitals are using to identify issues around and address workplace violence, reduce staff injuries due to violence, and facilitate a sense of security in the workplace with the ultimate goal of supporting high quality of care for patients.

Specifically, the session featured presentations from:

Trish Anderson, MBA, BSN, Director, Quality and Performance Improvement in Patient Safety at the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA HIIN), who discussed the HIIN’s work review and identified gaps in the existing workplace violence prevention policies of its member hospitals, as well as its work to develop a policy template to assist those hospitals who do not yet have one in place;

Michelle Conley, DNP, MBA, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, and Darryl Beard, MA, CHSP, CST, Senior Director of Support Services, at Aria-Jefferson Health, who discussed their three-hospital system’s identification of workplace violence issues through both quantitative and qualitative data collection and the multifaceted approach to address their findings, including collaboration and partnership with local law enforcement; and

Lali Hodapp Silva, MHA, Senior Director of Quality and Process Improvement at the Minnesota Hospital Association, and Kate Van Buskirk, RN, BSN, NE-BC, St. Cloud Hospital (MHA HIIN), who discussed the hospital’s 10-year journey to address workplace violence, including a few of the specific interventions and tools they use.

The session was moderated by Bruce Spurlock, MD (NCD).

To view and download slides and recording from this Pacing Event, click here.